William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Copart, Inc. $CPRT

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,159,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $89,080,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Copart by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 333,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,076,000 after acquiring an additional 41,060 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Copart by 6.4% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 578,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,307,000 after acquiring an additional 34,855 shares during the last quarter. Mill Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Copart during the second quarter valued at $12,711,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Copart during the second quarter worth $1,298,000. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its holdings in shares of Copart by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 199,794 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,822,000 after purchasing an additional 90,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CPRT. Jefferies Financial Group set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Copart in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays set a $26.00 target price on Copart and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research lowered Copart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Copart in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Copart in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Copart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Copart news, CEO Jeffrey Liaw sold 27,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.49, for a total transaction of $845,945.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 99,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,038,054.09. This represents a 21.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Copart Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CPRT opened at $33.80 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.49 and its 200-day moving average is $32.71. Copart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.81 and a 52 week high of $50.11. The firm has a market cap of $31.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99 and a beta of 1.01.

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The business services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Copart had a net margin of 33.48% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Copart’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Copart, Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Copart Profile

Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT) is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services, focused primarily on the sale of salvage and clean-title vehicles. The company operates a technology-driven auction platform that connects sellers — including insurance companies, vehicle finance firms, rental car companies, dealerships and fleet owners — with a broad buyer base consisting of vehicle dismantlers, recyclers, rebuilders and retail buyers. Copart’s business model centers on efficient vehicle disposition using digital bidding and logistics services to maximize recovery value for its clients.

Core services include hosting live and timed online auctions, vehicle listing and inspection support, title processing, and transportation and storage solutions.